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Movies and Books: 2023

It’s that time when I pull together my list of what movies, books, and (when applicable) live performances I’ve seen over the last year. Everything went way up from last year, which isn’t a surprise. The last few years had a bit of a loss of focus, so it’s nice to get back into the saddle.

Movies:

  1. Postcards from the Edge
  2. Kokomo City
  3. Fair Play
  4. Bad Behaviour
  5. L’Immensita
  6. The Quiet Girl
  7. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.
  8. Polite Society
  9. Joyland
  10. Asteroid City
  11. Wham!
  12. Call Me Kate
  13. No Hard Feelings
  14. Oppenheimer
  15. Barbie
  16. Valley of the Dolls
  17. Passages
  18. Theater Camp
  19. Red, White & Royal Blue
  20. Act of Violence
  21. Hud
  22. Bottoms
  23. Cassandro
  24. Strange Way of Life with The Human Voice
  25. Love at First Sight
  26. Marry My Dead Body
  27. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
  28. Dicks: The Musical
  29. Anatomy of a Fall
  30. The Holdovers
  31. The Killer
  32. Rustin
  33. The Taste of Things
  34. Fallen Leaves
  35. She-Hero
  36. The Summer with Carmen

Plays/Performances:

  1. Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner
  2. Ride the Cyclone
  3. Wintergreen Music Festival: Wintergreen Swings, Big Band Style!
  4. Wintergreen Music Festival: Barber Violin Concerto with Elisabeth Adkins
  5. Wintergreen Music Festival: Motown with Masters of Soul
  6. The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show

Books and Graphic Novels:

  1. Adventuregame Comics Vol. 1: Leviathan by Jason Shiga
  2. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 18 by Fumi Yoshinaga
  3. Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Secret of Hondorica by Carl Barks
  4. The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 2 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno
  5. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
  6. Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
  7. Something is Killing the Children Vol. 2 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
  8. Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Lost Peg Leg Mine by Carl Barks
  9. Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber
  10. Paper Girls: The Complete Story by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
  11. Something is Killing the Children Vol. 3 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
  12. Follow Me Down: A Reckless Book by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
  13. Something is Killing the Children Vol. 4 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
  14. Something is Killing the Children Vol. 5 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
  15. Once & Future Vol. 1: The King is Undead by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora
  16. Marry Me a Little: A Graphic Memoir by Robert Kirby
  17. Once & Future Vol. 2: Old English by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora
  18. Total Amnesia: The Complete Text and Programming Notes of the World’s Most Famous Lost Computer Game by Thomas M. Disch
  19. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
  20. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
  21. House of Slaughter Vol. 1: The Butcher’s Mark by James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal, and Chris Shehan
  22. Liebestrasse by Greg Lockard and Tim Fish
  23. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
  24. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 19 by Fumi Yoshinaga
  25. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, Esau Escorza, Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, and Luis Antonio Delgado
  26. Our Colors by Gengoroh Tagame
  27. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
  28. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
  29. Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, and Nicola Scott
  30. Sins of the Black Flamingo by Andrew Wheeler and Travis Moore
  31. The Dog Sitter Detective by Antony Johnston
  32. The Adventure Zone Vol. 3: Petals to the Metal by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Cary Pietsch
  33. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 by Hitoshi Ashinano
  34. Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank by Eric Orner
  35. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
  36. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
  37. Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
  38. Kowloon Generic Romance Vol. 1 by Jun Mayuzuki
  39. House of Slaughter Vol. 2: Scarlet by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns, and Letizia Cadonici
  40. Kowloon Generic Romance Vol. 2 by Jun Mayuzuki
  41. Kowloon Generic Romance Vol. 3 by Jun Mayuzuki
  42. White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link
  43. Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
  44. Grease Bats by Archie Bongiovanni
  45. My Travels in Japan: A Comic Book Artist’s Amazing Journey by Audry Nicklin
  46. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
  47. Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni
  48. The Adventure Zone Vol. 4: The Crystal Kingdom by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Cary Pietsch
  49. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
  50. Take a Look at the Five and Ten by Connie Willis
  51. Bad Mormon: A Memoir by Heather Gay
  52. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
  53. The Tea Dragon Festival by K. O’Neill
  54. The Human Target Vol. 1 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood
  55. The Human Target Vol. 2 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood
  56. Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings by Shirley Jackson
  57. Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
  58. A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
  59. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition Vol. 3 by Hitoshi Ashinano
  60. Kowloon Generic Romance Vol. 4 by Jun Mayuzuki

Previous Years’ Tallies:

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Movies and Books: 2022

Another year, another tally. The most interesting thing (if it’s even interesting) is that I saw 11 less movies this year… but 8 of the movies from 2021 were from the AFI Docs film festival, which moved to LA in 2022, depriving me of my documentary-palooza that I normally partake of each year. Reading was definitely in spurts this year, often checking out a bunch of books in a series from the public library. I’m hoping to get back on the proverbial wagon in 2023, but haven’t I said that several years in a row now? (I’m afraid to look.)

Movies:

  1. A Hero
  2. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
  3. Nanny
  4. Palm Trees and Power Lines
  5. Girl Picture
  6. Utama
  7. House of Gucci
  8. Everything Everywhere All at Once
  9. The Tinder Swindler
  10. Doctor Strange
  11. Fire Island
  12. Elvis
  13. Emily the Criminal
  14. See How They Run
  15. Bros
  16. Do Revenge
  17. Tár
  18. The Banshees of Inisherin
  19. Corsage
  20. Holy Spider
  21. Rimini
  22. Will-o’-the-Wisp
  23. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
  24. The Whale

Plays/Performances:

  1. Trixie and Katya Live
  2. Elton John: Farewell Yellow Brick Road
  3. Holiday
  4. The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show

Books and Graphic Novels:

  1. Destroy All Monsters: A Reckless Book by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
  2. Deuces Down edited by George R.R. Martin
  3. Hostage by Guy Delisle
  4. Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories by MariNaomi
  5. Far Out: Recent Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Paula Guran
  6. Heartstopper Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman
  7. Heartstopper Vol. 2 by Alice Oseman
  8. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 16 by Fumi Yoshinaga
  9. Heartstopper Vol. 3 by Alice Oseman
  10. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 17 by Fumi Yoshinaga
  11. Heartstopper Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman
  12. Loveless by Alice Oseman
  13. The Ghost in You: A Reckless Book by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
  14. The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
  15. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 1 by Kamome Shirahama
  16. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 2 by Kamome Shirahama
  17. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 3 by Kamome Shirahama
  18. The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
  19. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
  20. The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark
  21. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 4 by Kamome Shirahama
  22. Yokohama Haidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 by Hitoshi Ashinano
  23. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 5 by Kamome Shirahama
  24. Other Boys by Damian Alexander
  25. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 6 by Kamome Shirahama
  26. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 7 by Kamome Shirahama
  27. The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune
  28. Crushing by Sophie Burrows
  29. Check Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones by Ngozi Ukazu
  30. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 8 by Kamome Shirahama
  31. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
  32. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
  33. Fadeout by Joseph Hansen
  34. How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
  35. The Art of Sushi by Franckie Alarcon
  36. Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 9 by Kamome Shirahama
  37. The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno
  38. Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova
  39. Brave by Svetlana Chmakova
  40. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
  41. Wynd Vol. 1: Flight of the Prince by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas
  42. Wynd Vol. 2: The Secret of the Wings by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas

Previous Years’ Tallies:

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Barb Byro Lenton

When I was in college but continuing for many years since, I played an online game called Federation II, and one of the players that I quickly bonded with was Barb. Barb actually worked for the service it was on (Genie) and I was staff for one of its areas, so we initially bonded over that. There were actually some get-togethers in the ‘90s, and I think what struck me about Barb was that she simultaneously treated me like an adult and also like one of her children. I think that’s why all of these years later we’d stayed in touch. We were co-workers from 1997-1998, and getting to go up to New York for work events and getting to hang out with her for the weekend was honestly a genuine joy. Her moving to London had greatly reduced the chances to see her, but our paths kept crossing both online and in person. She was that rarest of people for whom every time I saw her, it was like no time had passed, even if it had been years.

In the last month I have three people that I knew pass away; one from high school, one from college, one from (mostly) post-college life. All of them were part of groups that really helped shape who I am today, letting me be myself and not who I thought I had to be in order to “fit in” with the rest of the world. The world is much less richer without any of them. But Barb, I’m going to miss you so very much, and I’m so sad that we don’t get to hang out one more time.

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Movies and Books: 2021

Another year, another round-up of movies and books. In 2020, seeing films in the theatre cane screeching to a halt after the seventh item on the list (Emma), and in a bit of balance for 2021 there were only seven films on the list seen in the theatre. The latter was a combination of trying to display an abundance of caution and also a lot of films either being simultaneously released online or me being willing to wait until it was online.

The overall reading went down for 2021, for a variety of reasons that are honestly a little too much to go into here, other than that’s what happened. But on the bright side, there actually was one live performance seen, so that’s a little exciting. This isn’t really a year in review itself, so I’ll stop it there other than to say that there are a lot of things I’d certainly like to read and view in 2022, and hopefully I’ll make some significant progress on those lists.

Movies:

  1. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
  2. Promising Young Woman
  3. Swallow
  4. Minari
  5. Disclosure
  6. Nomadland
  7. Mildred Pierce
  8. Tab Hunter Confidential
  9. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 1 [ A Night At The Opera, The Brother (Le Frère), Bug Farm, Golden Age Karate, International Dawn Chorus Day, Invisible Monsters And Tomato Soup, Under The Lemon Tree ]
  10. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 2 [ Eagles (Águilas), The Game, The Hairdresser (La Coiffeuse), The I And S Of Lives, Senior Prom, When We Were Bullies ]
  11. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 3 [ The Gallery That Destroys All Shame, Mama, The One Who Crossed The Sea (Der Übers Meer Kam), Scum Boy, Souvenir Souvenir, Trade Center ]
  12. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 4 [ The Beauty President, The Communion Of My Cousin Andrea, Mission: Hebron, Spaces (Mezery), The Train Station, Unforgivable (Imperdonable), The Way We Wait ]
  13. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 5 [ Halpate, Nsenene, Party Line, R.I.P. T-Shirts, Red Taxi, Since You Arrived, My Heart Stopped Belonging To Me (Desde Que Llegaste, Mi Corazón Dejó De Pertenecerme) ]
  14. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 6 [ Audible, Coded, Shelter ]
  15. No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics
  16. Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free
  17. Zola
  18. The Suicide Squad
  19. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  20. The Celluloid Closet
  21. Who You Think I Am
  22. The Eyes of Tammy Faye
  23. The French Dispatch
  24. Dune
  25. Tick, Tick… Boom!
  26. King Richard
  27. Passing
  28. Belfast
  29. C’mon C’mon
  30. Single All the Way
  31. The Power of the Dog
  32. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
  33. Don’t Look Up
  34. Swan Song
  35. Red Rocket

Plays/Performances:

  1. The Return of the Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show Live!

Books:

  1. Route 66 by Thomas Ott
  2. The Umbrella Academy Vol. 3: Hotel Oblivion by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
  3. Circe by Madeline Miller
  4. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
  5. The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag
  6. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
  7. Hour of the Huntress by Dave Gross
  8. Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony
  9. The Hidden Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag
  10. The Midwinter Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag
  11. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
  12. Defekt by Nino Cipri
  13. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 15 by Fumi Yoshinaga
  14. A Journal of My Father by Jiro Taniguchi
  15. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
  16. Yotsuba&! Vol. 15 by Kiyohiko Azuma
  17. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
  18. Reckless by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
  19. Friend of the Devil: A Reckless Book by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Previous Years’ Tallies:

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Empathy

“Fuck your feelings.”

That was a phrase bandied about a few years ago from one group to put down others. They were happy, therefore, who cares how anyone else feels? I have seen this repeatedly since then, in words less harsh but ultimately meaning just the same thing. Of course, the vast majority of these people are white, heterosexual people.

As someone who is part of a mostly invisible minority, I know what it was like to have all popular culture for my early life be about people who weren’t really quite like me. Gay people were the punchline (figuratively and sometimes literally). They were people to be mocked, smacked down, or (at best) pushed to the side and ignored. That’s all I saw for a long, long time. At a high school reunion, I told a classmate that going through school was living in constant terror, that at any moment someone would figure it out and I’d be thrown into the garbage.

It wasn’t a hard leap of logic to make. In 9th grade, almost every single one of my friends dropped me like a hot potato. (There were some notable exceptions, but they really were the exceptions.) They might not have known why exactly, but as one of them point-blank told me back then, I was “different” from them. Even good friends could not entirely be trusted because at any given moment a “fag joke” would slip out of someone’s lips. Why wouldn’t it? Because that’s what everyone saw in books, in movies, in television. It must be all right.

I’m almost at the point in my life where I’ve been fully out of the closet longer than not. I still always expect friends to drop me. I regularly hear a chorus in my head of, “I don’t fit in / I don’t belong.” I know all too well where these trust issues come from, even as I struggle to not let them take hold. I say all of this as someone with a genuinely wonderful family and great friends. More importantly, as someone who is at the end of the day, a white male.

So imagine what it must be like to grow up as a minority who can’t pass as looking like the majority. To read children’s books and be regularly slandered. Encountering casual (and not-so-casual) racism and growing up with the world trying to teach you that you are simply not as good. Imagine reading The Secret Garden and getting to the part where one of the main characters declares that Blacks are “not people.” Getting to the point in Dr. Doolittle where a Black character asks to be “cured” of his skin color. What sort of damage are you doing?

“It didn’t bother me,” says the white straight person. Of course it didn’t. But is it too much to ask for a little empathy? To even try what it must be like to be the perpetual outsider?

There are a lot of physically damaging things that aren’t available any more. I joke about how it is a minor miracle that my sisters and I didn’t put out an eye playing lawn darts at my grandparents’ house, especially every time we would try and shake one out of a tree. Not all damage is physical.

It’s all right to let some things stay in the past.

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Movies and Books: 2020

There’s no doubt that 2020, especially in the movie realm, was an odd one for media. Looking at the movies and books lists, I can draw a hard line exactly where the pandemic began in the US. I never would have guessed that Emma would be the last film I’d see in theatres for the year, or that my last in-person book club meeting would be for Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Omnibus. But here we are, none the less. I was actually able to see a lot of old and new films thanks to various film festivals that moved online, and I hate to admit that there was something really nice about, say, not having to hustle across down in the July heat or drive around the Beltway in December to attend these various festivals. (It doesn’t stop me from worrying about those theatres, though.)

I’d also told myself during the pandemic that since I was going out I would try and read a lot more, but the reality was that work swallowed up a lot of that time. I can say that I worked more this year than in past ones, even as the end results were rewarding in their own right. Last but not least, I had to delete the “Plays/Performances” category entirely this year, which stunk. Maybe next year I’ll do better about finding some streaming performances, if nothing else. Anyway, here’s the tally. Onwards and upwards!

Movies:

  1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
  2. Uncut Gems
  3. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
  4. Bombshell
  5. The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2020: Animated
  6. The Assistant
  7. Emma.
  8. Baby Boom
  9. The Red Shoes
  10. First Vote
  11. Transhood
  12. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 1 [ Lake, The Paint Wizzard, Elevator Pitch, Mizuko, Dafa Metti, Flower Punk ]
  13. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 2 [ Out of the Blue, Still Here, Pampas, 808: How We Respond, The Forest Churches of Ethiopia, Mother, All That Perishes At The Edge of Land ]
  14. Freedia Got a Gun
  15. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 3 [ Abortion Helpline This is Lisa, Now Is The Time, Do Not Split, Patty Are You Bringing In Weed From Jamaica, San Diego ]
  16. AFI DOCS: Shorts Program 4 [ Broken Orchestra, See You Next Time, Memoirs of Vegetation, Huntsville Station, The Deepest Hole, The Lost Astronaut, Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible ]
  17. In a Lonely Place
  18. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
  19. Herself
  20. Assassins
  21. Undine
  22. I’m Thinking of Ending Things
  23. Kajillionaire
  24. Leave Her to Heaven
  25. On the Rocks
  26. Detour
  27. Dog Day Afternoon
  28. Another Round
  29. Summer of 85
  30. Exile
  31. Apples
  32. Wonder Woman 1984
  33. Let Them All Talk

Books and Graphic Novels:

  1. Walt Disney’s Donald’s Duck: The Ghost Sheriff of Last Gasp by Carl Barks
  2. Walt Disney’s Donald’s Duck: Terror of the Beagle Boys by Carl Barks
  3. House of X / Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, and R.B. Silva
  4. The Power by Naomi Alderman
  5. The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill
  6. Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill
  7. Isola Vol. 1 by Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl
  8. Doom Patrol Vol. 1: Brick by Brick by Gerard Way and Nick Derington
  9. Doom Patrol Vol. 2: Nada by Gerard Way and Nick Derington
  10. Mother Panic Vol. 1: Work in Progress by Jody Houser and Tommy Lee Edwards
  11. Mother Panic Vol. 2: Under Her Skin by Jody Houser and Tommy Lee Edwards
  12. Shade, the Changing Girl Vol. 1: Earth Girl Made Easy by Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone
  13. Shade, the Changing Girl Vol. 2: Little Runaway by Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone
  14. Milk Wars by Gerard Way, Jody Houser, Cecil Castellucci, Steve Orlando, et al.
  15. Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1 by William Moulton Marston, H.G. Peter, et al.
  16. Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey
  17. Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge: The Lost Crown on Genghis Khan by Carl Barks
  18. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
  19. Finna by Nino Cipri
  20. The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley
  21. The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, and Carey Pietsch
  22. Network Effect by Martha Wells
  23. The Devourers by Indra Das
  24. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
  25. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh
  26. The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited! by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, and Carey Pietsch 
  27. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 14 by Fumi Yoshinaga
  28. Furari by Jiro Taniguchi
  29. Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia
  30. Aria: The Masterpiece Vol. 5 by Kozue Amano
  31. Venice by Jiro Taniguchi

Previous Years’ Tallies:

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Movies and Books: 2019

2019 was an extraordinarily busy year, and this year’s list definitely reflects that.

Movies:

  1. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
  2. Shoplifters
  3. Serenity
  4. The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2019: Animated
  5. The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2019: Live Action
  6. Tootsie
  7. Booksmart
  8. Shazam!
  9. The Souvenir
  10. Rocketman
  11. AFI DOCS Shorts Program 1 [Ghosts of Sugar Land, Departing Gesture, Conception: Melissa, Take Me to Prom, St. Louis Superman]
  12. AFI DOCS Shorts Program 2 [In the Absence, A Love Song for Latasha, The Clinic, Life in Miniature, A Tale of Two Kitchens]
  13. AFI DOCS Shorts Program 3 [All Inclusive, Sweetheart Dancers, Lightning vs Thunder, Crannog, Exit 12]
  14. AFI DOCS Shorts Program 5 [Dulce, The Separated, A Very Thin Line, Mack Wrestles, Quilt Fever, The Trial]
  15. Three Identical Strangers
  16. Drag Becomes Her
  17. The Farewell
  18. Downton Abbey
  19. Pain and Glory
  20. Parasite
  21. Jojo Rabbit
  22. The End of the Century
  23. Joker
  24. Knives Out
  25. And Then We Danced
  26. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  27. The Two Popes

Plays/Performances:

  1. The Play That Goes Wrong
  2. Katya: Help Me I’m Dying
  3. Lizzo: Cuz I Love You Too Tour
  4. RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq the World Tour 2019
  5. BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon: All I Want For Christmas Is Attention

Books and Graphic Novels:

  1. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
  2. Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
  3. The Best American Comics 2016 edited by Roz Chast
  4. A Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child at a Time by Rob Scheer and Jon Sternfeld
  5. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Volume 13 by Fumi Yoshinaga
  6. Yotsuba&! Volume 14 by Kiyohiko Azuma
  7. You & a Bike & a Road by Eleanor Davis
  8. Tremontaine: The Complete Season 1 by Ellen Kusher et al.
  9. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  10. Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone
  11. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
  12. Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau
  13. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
  14. The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondo and Yuko Uramoto
  15. Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone
  16. Abbott by Saladin Ahmed and Sami Kivela
  17. A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney
  18. Poochytown by Jim Woodring
  19. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
  20. The Ascent to Godhood by JY Yang
  21. Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey
  22. Guts by Raina Telgemeier
  23. Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey
  24. Meddling Kids by Edgar Contero
  25. Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisley
  26. Clyde Fans by Seth
  27. Calypso by David Sedaris

Previous Years’ Tallies: